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MUv&iU (EDwcatfonal jWonogmpl^iS 

EDITED BY HENRY SUZZALLO 

PROFESSOR OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION 
TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 
IN THE GRADES 



BY 



^^ ^^ ALICE WOODWORTH COOLEY 

LATE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION 
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA 




HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

BOSTON, NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 



LB i5T6 

.Ct 

Hi's 



COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



©CU343767 

«^. .. . 



CONTENTS 

Editor's Introduction , , v 

I. The Principles of Language Teaching i 

II. The Use of Literature as the Basis 

of Language Teaching « . . . . 5 

III. Some Practical Suggestions in the Use 

OF Literature for Language Training 2 5 

IV. The Group-Plan of Cooperative Les- 

son Units 49 

V. Training to Habitual Use of Correct 

Forms 67 

VI. The Use of Textbooks 85 

Outline ,.,.,.. 87 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

The common schools are becoming interested 
in literary expression for the first time. On first 
reading, such a statement seems absurdly un- 
true to the history of elementary instruction. 
Yet an analysis of our pedagogical development 
confirms the claim. It is true that the earliest 
activities of our older schools were exclusively 
associated with language and literature ; and that 
for centuries the materials of education remained 
dominantly linguistic. Nevertheless the tradi- 
tional school was not interested in literary ex- 
pression, or anything closely approximating it. 
The study of language was formal rather than 
literary ; it was devised to teach children to un- 
derstand in an abstract way the formalities of 
spelling, grammar, and rhetoric, rather than to 
lead them into a sincere expression of their own 
lives through the medium of the art-forms of 
speech and written language. 

Two and a half centuries of American schools 
did not rectify the narrowness and the false em- 
phasis of our traditions in language teaching. To 
be sure there was, here and there, some tinkering 
with the course of study and methods of teach- 

V 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

ing ; but it was not a reform of the spirit of the 
schoolmaster, only a slight modification in his 
manners. It took a quarter-century of pedagog- 
ical rebellion to break the monopoly of formal- 
mindedness in language instruction. Now a few 
teachers at least have a sane theory of the rela- 
tion of language and literature to life in school or 
out. Even among the rank and file it is no longer 
fashionable to speak of the language studies as 
formal subjects. They are vital rather than for- 
mal, because they are based on the child's own 
experiences and terminate in the expression and 
solution of his own problems. Reading, penman- 
ship, spelling, grammar, and rhetoric are not re- 
garded as disciplines pursuing independent ends. 
Their kinship is recognized through their com- 
mon contribution to oral and written expression 
and to literature. Reading and literature have 
become one study, the function of which is to 
appreciate life beyond immediate sense contact. 
And spelling, grammar, and rhetoric have been 
reduced to the position of occasional aids to writ- 
ing. Surely these changes are symptomatic of an 
altered conception of schoolteaching. 

It is not at all strange that the oldest of the 
school subjects, language study, should be the 
last to catch the spirit of modern teaching. It has 
had more centuries of fixation to undo than man- 
ual training, nature study, and the graphic arts, 
vi 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

Its sins were old enough to be antiques, and there- 
fore likely to command that traditional reverence 
which prevents their correction through rational 
standards of criticism. But the time has come 
when the lateral influence of the newer school 
subjects, which emphasize self-expression in terms 
of use and beauty, is great enough to overcome 
the downward pressure of the tradition of for- 
malism. It begins to be apparent to us that an 
understanding of language is given to children 
for the purpose of aiding expression, just as their 
knowledge of woods, tools, plants, and soils is in- 
tended as a guide to useful action in industry and 
agriculture. The expressive function of language 
teaching is its dominant one. To the extent that 
literature widens the horizons of human experi- 
ence and gives it significant interpretation, it 
modifies the substance of the child's thought and 
feeling ; to the extent that it suggests an effect- 
ive and congenial manner of voicing the needs 
of life, it will give command over the forms of ef- 
fective and winsome expression. Thus language 
study becomes, what it normally is with people 
out of school, a virile, broadening, and useful 
pursuit. 

The difficulty with most teachers is that they 

cannot see how their newer ideals of language 

teaching are to be worked out in detailed methods. 

They are impatient enough with the scholastic 

vii 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

ceremonial of parsing and other exercises which 
distract from literary understanding. In spite of 
themselves they suspect that rules of grammar 
only impede expression. Yet they do not know 
what new methods of teaching they ought to sub- 
stitute for those familiar to them. In want of con- 
crete aid, they follow the line of least resistance, 
which is tradition. We need to reconstruct more 
than the philosophy of language teaching ; we 
must rebuild its practice. This volume, with its 
clear statement of theory and its wealth of prac- 
tical suggestions, is offered as an aid to both 
ends. 



LANGUAGE TEACHING IN 
THE GRADES 

I 

THE PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE TEACHING 

Language as commimicated thought 

Language is communicated thought. Clear, defi- 
nite thought and its clear, direct expression are 
inseparable. To know the thoughts of another 
is to know his life. 

The teaching of no other subject is so vitally 
wrapped up in the gospel of life as is the teach- 
ing of the so-called language group of studies 
(reading, language lessons, writing, spelling, dic- 
tation, oral and written composition, and, later, 
grammar and rhetoric). For this reason, cold, 
formal treatment of these studies is most dead- 
ening in its effect. 

Language as self-expression 

The speech of one who talks much and says 
little is but "as sounding brass and a tinkling 
cymbal," though every word be correctly used and 
every sentence faultless in construction. Fluency 
and precision of speech may be gained at the ex- 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

pense of language power. It clearly follows that 
instructing children in the use of language forms 
is not the vital part of language teaching. True 
language training is giving skill in self-expres- 
sion : the expression of the individual's own ex- 
periences, — his own thoughts, his own feelings, 
his own way of looking at things ; skill in express- 
ing them in terms of simplicity, sincerity, and 
effectiveness. To teach language is to rouse, 
stimulate, and guide a twofold activity in the pu- 
pil : (i) thinking; (2) giving his thought to others. 

Two requisite conditions 

Even the necessary practice exercises for mas- 
tery and skill are filled with the spirit of life 
when the pupil catches glimpses of their pur- 
pose and value. The first requisite is interest in 
what he is to say or write. This generates the 
second requisite, eagerness to tell something 
clearly and well. 

To teach language is then : (i) to rouse and 
stimulate thought and feeling ; (2) to give prac- 
tice in the habit of thinking clearly and of ex- 
pressing thought clearly. Ideals, self-activity, 
suggestion, imitation (unconscious and con- 
scious), repetition, habit ; there is no other path 
to the development of language power. No per- 
son, no group of persons, arbitrarily marked it 
out. It is rediscovered by each who studies 



PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE TEACHING 

conditions of growth in himself and in those 
about him. 

The place of ideal wants 

The first condition is always interest in an 
ideal. The natural stimulus of every phase of 
human activity is the ideal that takes hold of the 
mind and heart ; and the effectiveness of that 
activity in each individual depends upon the 
strength of his purpose and the degree of effort 
he puts forth ; these in turn depend upon the 
vividness and potency of the stimulating idea. 
The word ideal means idea plus desire to attain 
— the prerequisites of all real attainment. 

The child finds his first language ideals in the 
words he hears at home, on the street and play- 
ground, and, later, at school. The growth of his 
power to understand and use language measures 
his assimilation of the hfe about him. In other 
words, his language grows with himself, and he 
with it. 

In the study of any art, response to truth and 
beauty must always precede and accompany suc- 
cessful efforts to attain truthful and beautiful 
expression. Teachers of music, of drawing, and 
of painting, build on this principle. Why should 
there be divorce of practice from ideals in this 
one great universal art of language } To be sure, 
there is no skill without repeated doing ; but it 

3 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

is equally certain that the product of low ideals 
and weak thought is valueless, be it ever so per- 
fect mechanically. One must constantly put forth 
his own efforts, but he must as constantly look 
to his ideals. George Eliot voiced what every hu- 
man being feels when she said, — " For my part, 
people who do anything finely always inspire me 
to try. I don't mean that they make me believe 
that I can do it as well as they, but they make 
the things seem worthy to be done." 

Two fundamental principles ef art 

Whatever art is studied, two fundamental prin- 
ciples must be recognized: (i) that the subtle 
influence of vital contact with the best expres- 
sions of that art molds the student's efforts into 
finer quality and form ; (2) that his own striving 
to express himself enables him to attain better 
appreciation of the work of the artist. Literature 
is the highest form of expression of the language 
arts; and the right use of the right literature 
is, therefore, the basis of all really effective and 
vital language teaching. 



II 



THE USE OF LITERATURE AS THE BASIS OF 
LANGUAGE TEACHING 

Two standards for literary material used 

The highest language ideals are found in liter- 
ature, and since there is a wealth of literature 
that appeals to the child, to fail to make this a 
part of his growing life is to miss the greatest 
factor in his language development. 

To serve its purpose, it must measure up to a 
twefold standard : (i) The thought and feeling 
embodied must add beauty, meaning, and so joy, 
to the everyday life of the child in his present 
stage of growth. (2) The form of the expression 
must have some element of beauty if only that 
of simplicity and directness. 

Its use to interpret the child's experience 

This use of literature is not as a setting of the 
copy. A necessary element of art is that it shall 
be an expression of the individual's own way of 
seeing, feeling, and doing ; and this means neither 
imitation nor reproduction. A great poem should 
never be paraphrased. A story in verse, not a 
poem, may be rewritten in prose form ; and a real 

5 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

poem or a bit of fine prose may be copied for 
various purposes related to vocabulary or stand- 
ards of form ; but literature as the natural basis 
of language lessons serves a far greater end. It 
should suggest and recall, illumine and interpret, 
the child's own personal experiences, which he is 
later to tell in speech or in writing as expressing 
himself. He does, truly, "enjoy in his books a 
delightful dress-rehearsal of experience"; but it 
must not be forgotten that it is his own personal 
experience which is dressed for the rehearsal. 

How the communicated thought of one mind 
kindles response in another and stirs the instinct- 
ive desire to express that response, remains one 
of the wonderful mysteries of life. But we accept 
this marvelous evidence of the kinship of human- 
ity as the fundamental basis of all conversation, 
reading, writing, and all forms of personal ex- 
pression. The power of suggestion by means of 
language is interwoven with every word and deed 
of daily life. 

In accordance with this great truth, the liter^ 
ature that portrays in the life-story of another 
something the child has himself seen, thought, 
felt, or done, most vividly recalls and suggests 
his own experiences. And the vivid mental pic- 
ture generates the desire to tell about it. 



THE USE OF LITERATURE 

Its influence on vocabulary and phraseology 

But literature as the basis of language teaching 
will render another service. It will help the child 
to an enriched vocabulary and to finer phrase- 
ology. In its influence here, we find the same 
laws operating, viz. : ideals, suggestion, uncon- 
scious and conscious imitation. " That language 
is caught, not taught" is the old way of express- 
ing this truth. The choice word and the happy 
phrase have a peculiar charm for the young, ex- 
erting their strongest influence during the period 
of greatest growth in language power. In youth, 
more often than in adult life, the form of ex- 
pression heard or read "is caught " in the meshes 
of the brain and remains the form in which the 
thought is recalled. Many of these expressions 
are incorporated in conversation, and in original 
descriptions and stories, because of the child's 
instinctive response to sound and rhythm, and 
also because of his instinctive impulse to imitate 
and to repeat the words that most impressed 
him. 

In addition to this growth in language power 
induced by unconscious imitation, the skillful 
teacher leads to conscious imitation of certain 
correct forms and fine or strong expressions ; and 
through repetition of these forms in self-expres- 
sion, leads to their unconscious and habitual 

7 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

use. Professor Palmer says that a word three 
times used is thereafter a part of one's own 
vocabulary. In this way, and not under the spell 
of a rule of grammar, does each individual learn 
to use the English language correctly. 

The essential characteristics of stories and 
poems used 

The range of literature used must be as wide 
as the interests of the child. It must include a 
series of stories and poems that appeal to the 
many sides of his life, — the full round of his 
activities, — his plays, loves, admirations, aspira- 
tions, griefs, and joys. It must portray the two 
worlds he inhabits, his make-believe world, and 
the world about him. 

Each poem studied should suggest and illumine 
a personal experience ; be a short whole or com- 
posed of short wholes ; it should contain rich 
imagery, — a series of word-pictures, vivid to the 
child ; it should boldly outline the central inter- 
est with few accessories. The meaning of the 
whole should be easily interpreted by the experi- 
ence of the child. And, in a poem, there is al- 
ways the music of sound and rhythm. 

The story requisites are similar. Each should 

be simple in plot ; the events narrated should 

find response in the experience of the child or 

in his " high imaginings " ; the characters, few in 

8 



THE USE OF LITERATURE 

number, with one prominent figure about whom 
the interest centers, — one worthy of idealiza- 
tion. The story should be a short whole or com- 
posed of short wholes ; be worthy of reproduction 
in some form. It should be told with simplicity, 
clearness, directness, unity, coherence, and strong 
climax brought to a quick close. There should not 
be at the end a formal statement of its meaning. 

The need of a large conception of language 
teaching 

The literature wisely selected, the teacher's 
next problem is how to use it with children, that 
it may serve its high ends, as manifested in prac- 
tical results. 

The first essential of success in teaching Eng- 
lish is a large conception in the teacher's mind 
of the value and significance of the work. If he 
conceives it to be merely instruction in the use 
of language forms, the result will inevitably bear 
the stamp of the mechanical. If, on the other 
hand, his conscious purpose is to enlarge and 
deepen the thought and feeling to be expressed, 
and at the same time to develop technical accur- 
acy, skill, and worthier form, the result will be 
vital. 

And this large conception must be in the heart 
as well as in the mind of the teacher. Scientific 
observation has proved that all mental growth 

9 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

beyond a certain rudimentary stage depends ab- 
solutely on self-expression — on finding fit utter- 
ance for the vague thought or feeling that cannot 
take shape or body until it comes to birth in 
language. But it is possible to know the recorded 
scientific fact without realizing its importance or 
bearing. Only when the feeling which accom- 
panies such realization is woven into the fiber of 
this intellectual knowledge is its dynamic force 
felt in language teaching. The story of Helen 
Keller's life impresses the feeling of the value of 
open avenues of expression, more forcibly than 
can any statement of scientist or philosopher. 
Her life is itself a book in which God has so 
written this great truth that it makes powerful 
appeal to the heart of the reader as well as to his 
intellect. 

Again, the conception of the teacher's part in 
this development of language power will deter- 
mine the character of the teaching. We pour 
new life-currents into our work when we not 
merely know as a fact, but assimilate as a truth 
the thought of Carlyle: " How can an inanimate, 
mechanical gerund-grinder foster the growth of 
anything ; much more of mind, which grows not 
like the vegetable (by having its roots littered by 
etymological compost), but like a Spirit, — by 
mysterious contact of Spirit." Helen Keller, 
with the marvelous language power that charac- 

lO 



THE USE OF LITERATURE 

terizes her to-day, is a concrete illustration of 
this message. Miss Sullivan, the rare teacher of 
this rare soul, says : ** Helen learned language by 
being brought in contact with living language 
itself, brought for the purpose of furnishing 
themes of thought and of filling her mind with 
beautiful pictures and inspiring ideals." She 
adds : " I have always observed that children 
invariably delight in lofty, poetic language, which 
we are too ready to think beyond their compre- 
hension." 

The selection and use of ideals found in literature 

How will these large conceptions of language 
and language teaching in the mind of the teacher 
be manifested in his work } First of all, in the 
selection, presentation, and further use of the 
ideals found in literature. 

Of himself, by his own observing, imaging, and 
thinking, the child learns many things about the 
world in which he lives ; he vaguely feels many 
of the truths of life ; he is even able to tell others 
much of what he sees. But in literature he finds 
the thought of those who have seen more, felt 
more deeply, and expressed themselves more ef- 
fectively. Here he finds not only inspiration, but 
also models of form. 

Words have a marvelous power over the mind, 
and especially over the young mind ; it is pe- 
II 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

culiarly susceptible to suggestion. It is often 
said that " the child thinks by means of images." 
Words cause living pictures to glow on the sens- 
itive film of his brain. But no two children re- 
spond to the same words with the same mental 
pictures; not a child paints the exact picture in 
the mind of the speaker or writer. The result 
for each individual is a series of pictures with 
familiar setting, suggested and colored by the 
word-picture of another. 

"A Random Memory" of Robert Louis 
Stevenson's forcibly illustrates the child's habit 
of weaving the web of a poem or a story into 
his own life : — 

" Rummaging in the dusty pigeonholes of 
memory, I came once upon a graphic version of 
the famous psalm ' The Lord is my Shepherd ' ; 
and from the places employed in its illustration, 
which are all in the neighborhood of the house 
then occupied by my father, I am able to date it 
before the seventh year of my age. The 'pas- 
tures green ' were represented by a certain sub- 
urban stubble field where I had once walked 
with my nurse under an autumnal sunset. . . . 
Here, in the fleecy person of the sheep, I seemed 
myself to follow something unseen, unrealized, 
and yet benignant ; and close by the sheep in 
which I was incarnated — as if for greater se- 
curity — rustled the skirts of my nurse. * Death's 

12 



THE USE OF LITERATURE 

dark vale ' was a certain archway in the Warris- 
ton cemetery. . . . Here I beheld myself some 
paces ahead (seeing myself, I mean, from behind) 
utterly alone in that uncanny passage ; on the 
one side of me a rude, knobby shepherd's staff, 
on the other a rod like a billiard cue, appeared 
to accompany my progress ; the staff sturdily 
upright, the billiard cue inclined confidentially, 
like one whispering, toward my ear. I was aware 
— I will never tell you how — that the presence 
of these articles afforded me encouragement. . . . 
In this string of pictures I believe the gist of 
the psalm to have consisted ; I believe it had no 
more to say to me ; and the result was consola- 
tory. I would go to sleep dwelling with restful- 
ness upon these images. ... I had already sin- 
gled out one lovely verse — a scarce conscious joy 
in childhood, in age a companion thought : — 

In pastures green Thou leadest me 
The quiet waters by." 

The man who thus exquisitely repainted these 
pictures stored away in the " dusty pigeonholes of 
his memory," had three great gifts : vivid mem- 
ories of childhood experiences, the heart of a 
child to interpret them, and the creative ability 
to bring them forth. He thus lays bare many 
universal feelings of childhood as he reads the 
emotions in his own soul. 

13 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

One of these feelings, — the quick response 
to the music and rhythm of words, — Stevenson 
recalls as follows : " * The Lord is gone up with a 
shout, and God with the sound of a trumpet,' 
rings still in my ears from my first childhood, 
and, perhaps, with something of my nurse's ac- 
cent. There was possibly some sort of image 
written in my mind by these loud words, but I 
believe the words themselves were what I 
cherished. I must have been taught the love of 
beautiful sounds before I was breeched." The 
little girl who told of her love for "the singing 
sounds of the verses " in Longfellow's *' Psalm of 
Life" and Wordsworth's "Daffodils" said the 
same thing in another way. Both spoke for the 
child, as well as for a child. 

Some grievous sins committed against children 

These memories of Stevenson's also suggest 
the grievous sins that have been committed 
against children, and, we might add, against 
literature. The so-called literature, rewritten, 
"written down" to the assumed mental level of 
the child, shows misunderstanding of the essen- 
tial qualities of great literature and of the minds 
of children. The truth is that it is only the 
master mind that is great enough to teach the 
child heart. For real literature expresses the soul 
of the writer ; and that soul is greatest which 

14 



THE USE OF LITERATURE 

has " become as a child." This is not saying that 
all great literature is suitable nourishment for 
the young mind ; it is saying that all suitable 
literature for the young mind is great literature. 
It is the range, not the quality, of thought and 
emotion that is Hmited by experience. 

The literature that touches the heart of the 
child appeals to his imagination and stirs his 
emotions by suggesting and reviving his own 
experiences ; it appeals to his love of action. It 
must touch his loves, his hates, his aspirations, 
his fears, his joys, his griefs. It must penetrate 
his world of make-believe, and touch the every- 
day objects of the everyday world with the wand 
of fancy, — playing with their similarities and 
resemblances, — personifying sticks and stones, 
sun, moon, and stars, and even the phenomena 
and forces of nature. If things do not *' come 
alive" in the outer world, they must be made 
alive in the inner world; must " move about and 
do things." The richer the imagery, the more 
vivid the word painting, the greater his delight. 
Surely these are characteristics of great litera- 
ture ; of great poets and prose writers. 

Such names as Homer and Shakespeare sug- 
gest to many people a field of literature into 
which the young may not, cannot, enter. This 
belief is quite analogous to that of the child of 
the city slums, who ** always thought grass was 

15 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

something to keep off of." Both misconceptions 
are pathetic. The children themselves, regardless 
of the false theories of their elders, have shown 
that Homer touches their heart-strings as does 
no modern writer of "stories and verses for 
the young." Hugh Miller, the man, writing of 
Hugh Miller, the boy under ten years of age, 
says : — 

" Old Homer wrote admirably for little folk, 
especially in the Odyssey ; a copy of which, . . . 
in Pope's translation, I found in the house of a 
neighbor. Next came the Iliad .... With 
what power and at how early an age, genius im- 
presses! I saw, even at this immature period, 
that no other writer could cast a javelin with 
half the force of Homer." 

To-day, in many primary schools, we find 
children entranced and their own lives lifted 
above the commonplace by the stories of the 
old Greek heroes ; and in many a grammar school 
parts of translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey 
are read with keenest zest. 

The child, by no means ready for a play of 
Shakespeare's, listens with delight to such a 
burst of song as 

" Hark, hark ! the lark at heaven's gate sings, 
And Phcebus 'gins arise, 
His steeds to water at those springs 
On chaliced flowers that lies ; 

i6 



THE USE OF LITERATURE 

And winking Mary-buds begin 

To ope their golden eyes : 
With everything that pretty bin, 

My lady sweet, arise : 

Arise, arise." 

Must he wait until he can fully understand the 
significance of " chaliced " before he can see 
Phoebus arise to water his steeds ? see the " wink- 
ing Mary-buds " *' ope their golden eyes " ? Must 
he be deprived of the pictures and the music be- 
cause we do not nowadays say, "that pretty bin " ? 
Many another old English poet gives us gems 
of real child literature. Edmund Spenser may 
be quoted as an example. We find in his verse 
music, vivid word-painting, color, rich imagery, 
personification, action, and the simplicity result- 
ing from living close to nature in loving intimacy. 
" We wander at will amidst this endless variety 
of incident, of figures, all steeped in the colors 
of the imagination, without being reminded that 
there are bounds to the world we have entered," 
writes one who knows this poet well. True, the 
" Faerie Queene " as a whole is not for the 
grades j but what of such extracts from it as 
the one given below ? This particular quotation 
is given because it has been so often happily used 
in the intermediate grades, with children from 
homes of all degrees of culture and from homes 
barren of all culture. 

17 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

" Then came the Autumn all in yellow clad, 
As though he joyed in his plenteous store, 
Laden with fruits that made him laugh, full glad 
That he had banished hunger . . . 

Upon his head a wreath, that was enrolled 
With ears of corn of every sort, he bore ; 
And in his hand a sickle he did hold. 
To reap the ripening fruits the earth had yold." 

One might write, " In autumn the earth looks 
yellow. It has brought forth ripened fruit and 
grain, and now we gather the harvest to keep 
us from getting hungry in the winter." There 
would be no unfamiliar word, and the child 
would surely get the facts. But would we ex- 
change the poet's beautiful word picture for 
this literal statement } Both preserve the same 
familiar characteristics of autumn, — the ripened 
fruits, the vivid yellow coloring, the harvest ; — 
but the poet embodies them in a personified au- 
tumn, such as the child loves to picture; and 
he feels the spirit of the season as a child feels it. 

Does anyone believe that a child cannot image 
Spenser's Autumn and share his joyous spirit, 
because the words ** clad," "laden," "enrolled," 
and "yold " are not in the everyday vocabulary ? 
The boy, Robert Louis Stevenson, knew nothing 
of the theology of the Twenty-third Psalm, nor 
did he comprehend the exact meaning of many 
of its words. But "the result was consolatory"; 
i8 



THE USE OF LITERATURE 

he went to sleep " dwelling with restfulness upon 
these images." The "scarce conscious joy of 
childhood " was a " companion thought of age." 
Does not many an adult who can explain the 
meanings of all the words, at least to his own 
satisfaction, possess less of the real meaning and 
spirit of the psalm ? 

The oral uses of literature 

Literature, as a basis of language training, has 
many uses besides the inspirational : it is a means 
of cultivating the ear ; of enriching the vocabu- 
lary ; of developing the feeling for a choice word, 
an apt phrase, and a well-constructed sentence. 
To attempt to limit the selections to the fami- 
liar vocabulary or the commonplace expressions 
would violate the principles of literature, of teach- 
ing, and of the nature of children. Even a cer- 
tain quaintness of diction has a charm. For ex- 
ample, boys and girls of the intermediate grades 
delight in hearing selections from Lanier's 
"Malory's King Arthur" if the teacher reads 
them well. Such selections interpreted by a good 
reader add much to the ear training so essential 
to appreciation and good use of English. 

It may be well to emphasize here the import- 
ance of this special phase of language teaching. 
Much beautiful literature should come to the 
pupil through the ear. The words of many a 

19 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

poem should so sing themselves through the ear 
into the brain of the child that he shall hear in 
his heart both message and music " long after 
they are heard no more " by the outer ear. And 
so the teacher's reading of literature is neces- 
sarily an important factor of every phase of lan- 
guage teaching, including the teaching of oral 
reading. That it may be the best literature for 
the pupils at that time, it should be selected by 
one who has the wide knowledge of literature 
that is born of years of familiarity, and who has 
the sympathy with children that means loving 
insight. That it may make its deepest impression, 
the reader should fully appreciate its meaning 
and beauty, and be able by his sympathetic 
reading to interpret that meaning and beauty to 
others. 

The following sketch of one teacher's happy 
and profitable use of " Snow-Bound " illustrates 
the points that have been made. It is typical of 
a set of more than a hundred such reports sent 
to the writer by as many teachers in third and 
fourth grades. This one came from a school 
where most of the pupils are the children of 
laboring men, many of them foreigners. The 
teacher wrote : — 

*' I found the following to be the most success- 
ful plan of studying ' small wholes ' from ' Snow- 
Bound ' : a short preparatory talk, then my read- 
20 



THE USE OF LITERATURE 

ing the selection without comment, followed by 
general discussion with free questions ; then re- 
reading, the oftener the better. Sometimes the 
children listened silently and drew the pictures. 
Lastly, they chose the lines they liked best and 
wanted to learn, and in that way we committed 
sixty lines. Here are a few of their comments : 
*I like it because we used to live on a farm.' ' I 
like it because I haven't lived on a farm, and I'd 
like to.' * I like " Snow-Bound " because it seems 
so much like home and when we have storms.' 
* I like where the old folks told them stories about 
when they were children.' * Where the mother 
was praying that no one should want for warmth 
and food.' 'The part where they were doingthings 
and the mother was knitting and they were tel- 
ling stories.' * After the storm was over, where 
the boys went out and cut through the drifts to 
get to the barn.' * Where the animals were mad 
because their breakfast was so long in coming to 
them.' One boy said, * Seems as if I can't keep 
from saying " Snow-Bound " all the time.' " 

Like Stevenson, these children used the 
reader's pictures to bring their own to light ; and 
then it became a pleasure to tell of their own 
home circle, their own home experiences, and of 
experiences they would like to have, and to mem- 
orize the beautiful, vivid pictures of the poet. 
They had something to say and were eager to 

21 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

say it, — the first two requisites of effective oral 
and written composition. 

Up to this point we have discussed only one 
manifestation of the large conception of the sig- 
nificance of language teaching, namely, the appre- 
ciation of the value of literature as a basiSo Let 
us briefly consider a few other results. 

Respect for individuality 

There will be respect for the individuality of 
the pupil. Though the teacher will kindle with 
the live coal and, later, trim the flame, he will 
keep his hands off and his tongue tied while each 
pupil tells of his own seeing, imaging, thinking, 
and feeling. 

The importance of interest 

There will be interest on the part of the pupil. 
Lack of interest in oral or written composition is 
a sign that the real boy or girl has not been 
touched. Any form of activity that expresses 
one's self is accompanied by a sense of joy. 

Recognition of unity in all language lessons 

There will be, also, recognition of the unity of 
the variously named lessons in the language 
group. In the schools of Germany the German 
language is studied as one subject, not cut up 
into sections. One finds on their schedules,— 

22 



THE USE OF LITERATURE 

not literature, reading, rhetoric, language, spell- 
ing, — but German, which includes all these. It 
may not be a disadvantage to think of these recit- 
ations by their specific characters, but teacher 
and pupils should clearly recognize them all as 
only different phases of the study of English. 

The reading lesson should be a reading of 
literature. It should furnish not only the inspira- 
tion, but a part of the material for the language les- 
son. The reading and language periods may well 
be considered as two halves of one whole. The- 
personal thought and feeling stirred in the one 
should find opportunity for further expression in 
the other»3 While there can be no reading of 
literature without language training, there may 
well be a time known as the language period, so 
named because its specific purpose is effective use 
of language. By means of the reading lesson, 
completed by the language lesson, the child 
should not only grow in knowledge and apprecia- 
tion of the best things written in English, but 
also in mastery of form and ability to speak and 
write more effectively. And the best forms of 
expression found in the reading lesson should be 
used as standards of comparison in the practice 
exercises. 

The spelling lessons should include the writing 
from dictation of sentences, stanzas, and para- 
graphs. These should be models of form : they 

23 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

should be related in thought to the other lessons 
of the language group ; they should be used to 
teach spelling, capitalization, and the character 
and use of punctuation marks, — in short, to 
teach " the mechanics of written language " and 
the correct spelling of words. These are never 
separated in use outside the schoolroom, and the 
habit should be formed of visualizing them in one 
picture. The lists of words, the sentences, the 
paragraphs, should all have direct bearing on 
both the thought and the form of the next oral 
or written composition. 

There will necessarily be recitation periods 
devoted to class criticisms and corrections of 
dictation work and of oral and written composi- 
tion. The standards must be the usage of good 
writers. There should be drawing and construc- 
tive lessons also, to illustrate and impress ideas 
that are suggested by the reading lesson and ex- 
pressed in words in the language lesson. 

Such unity of purpose and plan in the treat- 
ment of the several subjects of the language 
group is dictated by good pedagogy — another 
name for common sense. 



Ill 



SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS IN THE USE 
OF LITERATURE FOR LANGUAGE TRAINING 

Reading the poem or story 

Tell (or read) the story, and recite (or read) the 
poem to the children so as to make it most effect- 
ive in moving and molding self-expression. The 
well-told story will kindle stronger response than 
the story read aloud, though the latter has its 
value and should not be entirely neglected. The 
poem recited makes stronger appeal to the list- 
ener than the poem read to him. There is also 
value in training to reproduce what is read si- 
lently. But the teacher cannot too strongly em- 
phasize the thought as first stated, viz : that the 
appeal to the ear is most effective in stimulating 
thought and feeling and in shaping its expres- 
sion. To be a good reader, and to have his silent 
reading affect his own use of language, the pupil 
must be trained to hear the words he sees. To 
cultivate this habit, and the habit of " imagin- 
ing " in response to words, and to cultivate the 
habit of assimilating the language of literature 
through its "ringing and singing in the ear," — 

25 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

these are essential elements in teaching reading 
and language. 

Presenting it as a whole 

We have noted the value of short wholes. 
Give the story or the poem, first, as a whole, 
without interruption for question, comment, or 
explanation. 

Give it as a whole, because only in its unity 
does it reveal its great central meaning and its 
beauty. Give it without comment, because each 
listener is entitled to the joy of discovery. One 
little fellow voiced what hundreds have felt when 
he said: "Please don't stop to explain. I see it 
all so plain until you stop to explain, and then I 
get all mixed up." The child is entitled first to 
his own personal interpretation of the meaning, 
no matter how crude and faulty. It is the great, 
vital, essential truth of the poem that we wish to 
impress. The pupil need see only the pictures 
vital to this meaning. 

Asking preliminary questions 

Preface the story or poem by a very few pointed, 
significant questions, — each an individual pro- 
blem to be solved. Each should demand the 
pupil's own individual response to the most sig- 
nificant word pictures, and his own individual 
interpretation and application of the meaning of 
26 



SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

the whole story or poem. Such questions stimu- 
late alert attention, keen interest, vivid imagin- 
ing, memory, interpretative power and desire to 
communicate to others what is seen, thought, 
and felt ; e.g., the teacher may say something 
like this : " Each be ready to tell me when I 
finish reciting this poem: (i) what pictures you 
see most plainly ; (2) what words or lines make 
you see them ; (3) what pictures certain stanzas 
(or sentences) make you see (word pictures in- 
dicated by the teacher) ; (4) what parts you like 
best ; (5) what the whole makes you think of." 
These questions may at first be given one at a 
time, — with discussion after each repeated pre- 
sentation of the whole. The last question points 
to the central meaning, but leads to individual 
revelation and interpretation. When a number 
of fifth grade pupils said that Sidney Lanier's 
** The Song of the Chattahoochee " made them 
think of Longfellow's "Excelsior," it was the 
best possible evidence that they had grasped the 
great meaning of both poems. 

Explaining comparisons and allusions 

If, in the poem to be given, there are compari- 
sons or allusions unfamiliar to the children and 
vital to the meaning of the poem, prepare for 
these by story, pictures, or objects. But do not 
try to turn on all the side-lights. For example : 
27 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

children cannot enter into the spirit of Longfel- 
low's "The Children's Hour," without familiar- 
ity with castles, — their turrets, dungeons, and 
round-towers ; while understanding of the allu- 
sion to the Bishop of Bingen is not necessary. 

Therefore, give the key to the interpretation 
of the poem in stories of life in the age of chiv- 
alry, when a man's castle was his fortress. By 
pictures, give needed knowledge of the parts of 
a castle; but make no conscious connection be- 
tween these stories and the poem. Let the pupils 
use the key themselves. 

Why make this preparation before giving the 
poem ? Because the clearer and stronger the first 
impression, the more abiding. Figures of speech 
are used by the author to illuminate his message 
by referring to something supposed to be familiar 
to the reader. Whenever the thought of the 
hearer or reader is arrested and the interest 
weakened by an allusion meaningless to him, the 
literature loses a measure of its power. And the 
effect of explaining as one reads has already been 
noted. 

Hiimanizmg desaiptive poems 

When it is necessary to warm and humanize a 
descriptive poem, preface it with accounts of per- 
sonal experiences that include the seeing of what 
is described. It is the human element that arouses 
28 



SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

and deepens the interest in the picture. This ele- 
ment the teacher must often add from the pupil's 
experience to bring him into vital touch with the 
beauty and power of the description. For ex- 
ample, stories and descriptions of his own home 
help each better to appreciate Phoebe Gary's 
"Our Old Brown Homestead." And by sym- 
pathy with Whittier's " barefoot boy " through 
personal experience, the child may be led to great 
enjoyment of parts of this poem. Stories told by 
teacher and pupils of similar experiences in the 
woods and by the streams, with accounts of what 
was seen there, not only bring nearer the boy of 
the poem, but help all to see more clearly what 
he saw. 

Providing abundant means for self-expression 

Having (i) prepared for the literature if neces- 
sary ; having (2) given two or three stimulating 
questions to be discussed after the reading ; 
having (3) presented the story or poem as a whole 
without interruption ; then (4) provide abundant 
means for the pupil's assimilation of the poem by 
self-expression. 

Encourage expression in various forms, viz. : 
drawing, painting, modeling, constructive exer- 
cises, conversation, oral and written reproduc- 
tion of a story, dramatizing, recitation of a poem, 
dictation, and original stories, oral and written. 
29 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

These reinforce one another. Each avenue of 
expression contributes to clearer seeing. This, in 
turn, demands and creates more adequate ex- 
pression. For example, a child can better de- 
scribe in words that which he has drawn, painted, 
or made. He enters more fully into the spirit of 
what he reads after he has " acted it out " in 
dramatization. 

Select for each piece of literature the forms of 
expression which will best illuminate its mean- 
ing. Choose for drawing and painting the word 
pictures that will be made more vivid by this 
form of illustration. For constructive expression, 
see that the ** making " suggested has value to 
the child and to the vivifying of the poem. Of 
course a narrative poem, not a descriptive poem, 
best lends itself to dramatization ; e.g., we do not 
attempt to dramatize " Our Old Brown Home- 
stead." But children love to draw and paint the 
little brown house with the apple boughs reach- 
ing out over the roof, — the cherry trees with 
their branches brushing against the window- 
panes, and the sweet brier under the window-sill. 
They love to whittle out the old well curb, and 
the " rude old sweep " with bucket attached. And 
for the child, these vitalize the poem. They help 
him to see a very real home. 

Point out and use as models for practice exer- 
cises, expressions in story or poem that use cor- 

30 



SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

rectly certain forms often used incorrectly by the 
pupils. Call attention to the beautiful or the 
forcible expression, and plan exercises requiring 
their use by the pupils. 

Reinforce the other language values of a piece 
of literature and economize time and energy by 
making it a means of practice in writing, spell- 
ing, and the use of the " mechanics of written 
language." Selections copied and written from 
dictation or memory fix by study and by use the 
correct forms of the words, many of which will 
be needed later in the pupil's written composi- 
tion. This work also helps to fix the habit of 
using correctly the various marks of punctuation, 
while fixing in the mind something worthy in 
both thought and form. 

Have stories reproduced occasionally, orally 
and in writing. Carefully select the stories for 
this purpose. The special values are cultivation 
of attention and memory ; freedom in expres- 
sion ; growth in power to see relations, to grasp 
essentials, and to tell connectedly ; use of correct 
forms ; and enlargement of vocabulary. Lead 
even young children to the idea of continuity. 
Constant emphasis of " What comes next } " with 
much retelling to tell better in this respect, helps 
to establish the ideal. This accomplished, there 
may, later, be class discussion before the repro- 
duction, resulting in the adoption of two or three 

31 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

" topics " to be kept in mind. Constantly work 
toward power to think and tell connectedly. Re- 
production may, also, be made a conscious as 
well as an unconscious means of enlarging the 
vocabulary. Pupils may sometimes be required to 
use in their own story-telling, certain specified 
words and phrases selected from the story told 
by another. 

A fine poem, as has been said before, should 
never be reproduced or paraphrased. It should 
be given only with the music and rhythm that 
are a part of its beauty. 

Every month complete the study of one or 
two poems by having them "learned by heart" 
and recited. Through the hearing, discussing, 
illustrating, repetition of lines, copying, dicta- 
tion, exercises, and the various other uses sug- 
gested, the poem is memorized by some children 
in the class, and partly memorized by all of them. 
With a little more time and directed effort, each 
will have committed it to his memory to keep. 
Learning and reciting a poem by means of this 
assimilative study is of immeasurably greater 
value in every respect than the mere learning of 
words stanza by stanza from book or blackboard. 
Have frequent individual recitations of poems 
thus learned. The pupil reciting should stand out 
before his hearers and look into their faces. He 
should be trained to stand with well-poised body, 

32 



SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

to pronounce correctly, and to speak distinctly 
in well-modulated tones. 

The series of lessons from story and poem 
should bear fruit in the children's original stories 
,1 and simple descriptions, oral and written. 

f< Using a piece of literature for self-criticism 

/ Have the pupils use a piece of literature for 

self-criticism by comparison. The time and nerv- 
ous energy spent by teachers in correcting papers 
is deplorably misspent. 

Each must overcome his faults by his own 
efforts. He must see them himself, and himself 
feel them as faults before he will put forth this 
corrective effort. The wrong is seen by its com- 
parison with the right, — the false by its diverg- 
ence from the true. The habit of comparing his 
own work, in specific points, with the work of an 
artist impresses the right and the true forms on 
eye and ear. Correcting his own mistakes to bring 
his own work into line with the right he has him- 
self seen, fixes the impression by voice or hand. 
By this comparison, the child also learns to feel 
and unconsciously imitate the clearness, beauty, 
and strength of the good sentence, of unity, co- 
herence, cHmax, and all other elements of good 
story-telling long before he knows them by 
name. As his powers mature, he may be led to 
criticize his own compositions in each of these 

33 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

respects by comparison with a piece of good lit- 
erature. 

This kind of language work keeps pupils grow- 
ing in appreciation of ideals, while it requires 
of them daily exercises in self-expression. Both 
teachers and pupils grow in realization of the 
truth that *'to see something clearly and to tell 
it in a plain way " is not merely the gift of a 
genius, but an art to be mastered. And the happy 
growth of the pupils in reading and language 
power evidences their advance toward mastery. 

Three illustrative uses of literature 

(a) In the beginner'' s first grade 

Stevenson's ** The Land of Counterpane " 

Teacher : " I am going to read to you a poem 
that I like. I am sure you will like it, too. The 
words make me see pictures. I can see the pict- 
ures with my eyes shut. Listen, and tell me, 
when I have finished reading the poem, what 
the lines make you see." 

THE LAND OF COUNTERPANE » 

When I was sick and lay a-bed, 
I had two pillows at my head, 
And all my toys beside me lay 
To keep me happy all the day. 

^ From Poems and Ballads. Copyright, 1895, 1896, by 
Charles Scribner's Sons. 

34 



'^ 



SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

And sometimes for an hour or so 
I watched my leaden soldiers go, 
With different uniforms and drills, 
Among the bed-clothes, through the hills. 

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets, 
All up and down among the sheets, 
Or brought my trees and houses out, 
And planted cities all about. 

I was the giant great and still 
That sits upon the pillow-hill, 
And sees before him, dale and plain, 
The pleasant Land of Counterpane. 

With as little " fuss " about it as possible, get 
sentences, not fragments, from the children, in 
conversation. Lead them to begin with " I saw." 
The responses will be something like this : " I 
saw a little boy in a white * nightie* sitting up in 
bed ; and he had two pillows back of him." " I 
saw tin soldiers with painted coats on." " I saw 
toys all over the bed." (What toys }) " I saw ships 
with sails ; and green trees ; and block houses." 
(What was the little boy doing .?) " The little boy 
played he was a giant ; and that the pillows were 
a big hill." *'He played the bed was land, and 
that the wrinkles in the clothes were hills ; and 
then he built houses on the land." "Sometimes 
he played the sheets were water, and he sailed 
his ships all up and down." 

Teacher : " What word in the poem tells that 

35 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

he built many houses? Let us write 'city' on the 
board. What word tells us that he sent many 
ships together ' all up and down ' among the 
sheets? We will write 'fleet' on the board too. 
' A fleet is a number of ships together.' " 

During the discussions suggested, the teacher 
may have read the poem several times, and may 
have, by request, repeated various lines or stan- 
zas. By this time the children will have caught 
many of the words of the poems as well as its 
pictures. 

The teacher may re-read the entire poem. Pre- 
face with : ''When I finish reading this time, tell 
all the pictures you see ; but instead of telling 
in your own words, repeat the lines in the poem 
that make you see them." Different lines will be 
repeated by different pupils. Sometimes the en- 
tire poem will be given in this way. Have it re- 
cited by individual pupils until the majority of 
the class have learned it " by heart," and until 
all have learned a part of it. 

Accompany and follow these recitations with 
conversations and story-telling and simple de- 
scriptions based on personal suggestions, e.g. : 
"Did you ever play the pillows were hills? that 
the sheets were the ocean ? or land ? Have you 
had toys on the bed ? What toys ? What did you 
play ? Tell about it." 

" What toys do you have most fun with ? Draw 

36 



SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

three toys that you like to play with. Each may 
tell how some toy looks, and the rest of us will 
guess what it is. Tell how large it is, what shape, 
and what color or colors." 

** Do you ever play ' march and drill ' with sol- 
diers.? Tell about it." 

" Do you ever build a city ? How ? Tell about 
it." 

*'Do you ever sail ships? How.? Tell about 
it." 

** Do you ever play giant } Brownie ? Santa 
Glaus ? When you play you are a man or a woman, 
what do you like best to be } Tell about it." 

This entire series of lessons is an excellent 
basis for script reading lessons, easily suggesting 
good sentences for reading with feeling, — -for 
word study, for vivifying by drawing, painting, 
"making," and action. 

if. In the primary grades 
Longfellow*s " The Children's Hour " 

In this poem, the father symbolizes his love by 
an imaginative play. His children enter at once 
into the "pretending game" without explana- 
tions, because they understand the meaning of 
what he says. That other children may intelli- 
gently play this game with the children of the 
poem, they must first become familiar with 
castles, — their outer walls, turrets, dungeons, 

37 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

and round-towers; they must think of the "dun- 
geon in the round-tower" as the most secure 
place in the castle, the place best guarded from 
the banditti who might scale the walls. Here 
the castle king might keep his treasures. 

To give this needed knowledge and familiarity, 
the teacher may collect pictures of castles, and 
tell stories of knighthood, — perhaps Mrs. Har- 
rison's ** Story of Cedric " ; perhaps Jane An- 
drews's "Gilbert the Page." See that the un- 
familiar words used by the poet are made a part 
of the children's vocabulary by use in their re- 
productions of these stories. Say nothing about 
the poem in this connection. The stories are 
given at this time for their interpretative value. 
The children should have the pleasure of invol- 
untarily using the knowledge gained. 

The poem needs slight introduction. The 
thought may be directed to the pleasures of the 
twilight hour, when fathers are most apt to have 
time to play with their children. Then, — " I will 
read you a poem that tells how the poet, Long- 
fellow, used to spend this hour with his three 
little daughters, Alice, AUegra, and Edith. * Be- 
tween the dark and the daylight,' they liked to 
surprise him in his study. He would pretend they 
had broken into his castle. Listen, and see the 
pictures." 



38 



SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 



THE CHILDREN'S HOUR 

Between the dark and the daylight, 
When the night is beginning to lower, 
Comes a pause in the day's occupations, 
That is known as the Children's Hour. 

I hear in the chamber above me, 
The patter of little feet, 
The sound of a door that is opened, 
And voices soft and sweet. 

From my study I see in the lamplight, 
Descending the broad hall stair, 
Grave Alice and laughing Allegra, 
And Edith with golden hair. 

A whisper and then a silence ; 
Yet I know by their merry eyes 
They are plotting and planning together 
To take me by surprise. 

A sudden rush from the stairway, 
A sudden raid from the hall ! 
By three doors left unguarded 
They enter my castle wall ! 

They climb up into my turret 
O'er the arms and back of my chair ; 
If I try to escape, they surround me ; 
They seem to be everywhere. 

They almost devour me with kisses, 
Their arms about me entwine, 
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen, 
In his Mouse-tower on the Rhine ! 

39 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti, 
Because you have scaled the wall, 
Such an old mustache as I am 
Is not a match for you all ! 

I have you fast in my fortress, 

And will not let you depart, 

But put you down in the dungeon, 
In the round-tower of my heart. 

And there will I keep you forever. 
Yes, forever and a day. 
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, 
And moulder in dust away ! 

1. Teacher: "Who has something to tell us 
about what he saw as I read the poem ? " 

Accept the responses, clear or obscure, few or 
many. Have them given in good sentences. 
Make it a free, happy conversation, not a ** stiff " 
recitation. 

2. Teacher : " Listen again as I read a stanza 
at a time. At the end of each stanza, you may 
tell me what it is about. Try to tell as much of 
it as you can in the words of the poem. If any 
word is strange to you, it will keep you from get- 
ting the picture. Ask its meaning." 

(Such words may be written on the board to 
concentrate attention on them while their mean- 
ing is discussed.) 

3. As a written language exercise, the teacher 
may write on the board the sentences from the 
poem that close with the exclamation mark. 

40 



SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

To pupils : " Copy from the board these sen- 
tences from * The Children's Hour.* Be sure to 
copy the mark at the end of each sentence. 
What;is it called ? What does it tell about the 
feeling of the writer ? " 

4. (Dictation exercise.) The teacher may write 
the third stanza on the board. 

Direction : *' Study this carefully to be able to 
write it from dictation. Tell where each capital 
letter is used, and why it is used in that place." 

5. Teacher : " Listen again to the reading of 
the whole poem. At the close : (a) draw one of 
the pictures in the poem. Each may make his 
own choice, (d) Repeat as many lines of the poem 
as you can." 

Have only individual recitations. One pupil 
may begin and recite as much of the poem as he 
remembers ; another may recite from the point 
where the first one stops, and so on, until there 
is a patchwork recitation of the whole. Continue 
until many of the class have memorized the poem. 
For the few who cannot master it through the 
ear, it may be presented to the eye. But first let 
the appeal to the ear have its effect. Continue to 
have frequent individual recitations of each poem 
memorized. 

6. (Original expression.) Teacher : " Tell what 
the whole poem makes you think of." 

" Tell about romps or plays you have with your 

41 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

father, uncle, or big brother, * between the dark 
and the dayhght ' ; " or, " Tell of a quiet twilight 
story-telling hour." 

" Fathers show their love for their children in 
many different ways. Tell about them." 

" Children have many different ways of show- 
ing that they return this love. Tell about them." 

c. In the grammar grades 
Lanier's ** Song of the Chattahoochee " 

(Preparation.) If pupils are not familiar with a 
mountainous country, collect pictures of moun- 
tain streams. As teacher and pupils look at 
these pictures and talk about them, use words of 
the poem, as : hurry, run, leap, split, rapid, fall, 
bed, etc. 

The children will be interested in hearing 
selections from Van Dyke's Little Rivers. 

Teacher : " To-morrow I will recite for you a 
beautiful poem about a mountain stream. The 
writer, Sidney Lanier, is a poet of our own coun- 
try. He was born in the South, and loved the 
Southland. The river of his poem, the Chatta- 
hoochee, rises in Georgia. It rises in Habersham 
County, and flows through Hall County, both in 
northeastern Georgia. 

" Before to-morrow, consult your geographies. 
Make a rough sketch tracing the course of the river 
* down the hills of Habersham ' and * through the 

42 



SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

valleys of Hall ' County, downward across the 
plains of Alabama, and on to the Gulf of Mexico. 
Tell in what foothills this river rises." 

The following day, with very little discussion 
of the preparation (including special emphasis on 
the journey from the rocky hills, through the 
valleys, across the plains, to the ocean), the 
teacher recites, or reads, the entire poem. The 
first time, listening may be the only require- 
ment. The music of this poem is a fitting ac- 
companiment to the song. Tell the children just 
to listen to the music and enjoy it. It may be 
given them more than once for pure enjoyment. 

SONG OF THE CHATTAHOOCHEE ^ 

Out of the hills of Habersham, 
Down the valleys of Hall, 
I hurry amain to reach the plain, 
Run the rapid and leap the fall, 
Split at the rock and together again, 
Accept my bed, or narrow or wide, 
And flee from folly on every side 
With a lover's pain to attain the plain 
Far from the hills of Habersham, 
Far from the valleys of Hall. 

All down the hills of Habersham, 
All through the valleys of Hall, 

* From Sidney Lanier's Poems. Copyright, 1884, 1 891, by 
Mary D. Lanier. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons. 

43 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

The rushes cried, Abide, abide, 

The willful waterweeds held me thrall, 

The laving laurels turned my tide. 

The ferns and the fondling grass said, Stay, 

The dewberry dipped for to work delay, 

And the little reeds sighed, Abide, abide. 

Here in the hills of Habersham, 

Here in the valleys of Hall. 

High o'er the hills of Habersham, 
Veiling the valleys of Hall, 
The hickory told me manifold 
Fair tales of shade, the poplar tall 
Wrought me her shadowy self to hold, 
The chestnut, the oak, the walnut, the pine, 
Overleaning, with flickering meaning and sign, 
Said, Pass not, so cold, these manifold 
Deep shades of the hills of Habersham, 
These glades in the valleys of Hall. 

And oft in the hills of Habersham, 

And oft in the valleys of Hall, 

The white quartz shone, and the smooth brook-stone 

Did bar me of passage with friendly brawl, 

And many a luminous jewel lone — 

Crystals clear or a-cloud with mist, 

Ruby, garnet, and amethyst, — 

Made lures with the lights of streaming stone 

In the clefts of the hills of Habersham, 

In the beds of the valleys of Hall. 

But oh, not the hills of Habersham, 
And oh, not the valleys of Hall 
Avail : I am fain for to water the plain. 
Downward the voices of Duty call — 

44 



SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

Downward, to toil and be mixed with the main, 
The dry fields burn, and the mills are to turn, 
And a myriad flowers mortally yearn, 
And the lordly main from beyond the plain 
Calls o'er the hills of Habersham, 
Calls through the valleys of Hall. 

After a second or third reading, call for a gen- 
eral discussion of the pictures seen by the pupils. 
They may also give any opinions, or express any 
feeling which the poem has suggested. 

Teacher : "The more we think about a beauti- 
ful poem, the more pleasure and meaning we get 
from it. Let us look at this one more closely. I 
will read again the stanza that pictures the rapid 
running and leaping of the Chattahoochee before 
it leaves the rocky foothills. Look at this picture : 
'I hurry amain.' How would the picture be 
changed if the word amain were omitted ? What 
seven words or expressions in this stanza tell 
what the river does ? — (* hurry amain,' — * run 
the rapid,' — * leap the fall,' — ' split at the 
rock,' — * together again,' — ' accept my bed,' 
— *flee.') Do you see the stream as it does 
these things ? " 

" What two expressions tell the purpose of it 
all ? " 

" Here, then, we have (i) the beautiful pictures ; 
(2) their meaning as the poet interprets it." 

" In the second stanza, we no longer see the 

45 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

leaping, rushing stream. It has come down from 
the mountains, and is now a quiet, peaceful river 
rippling along between its green banks. What 
* green things growing ' on the edge of the stream 
tried to delay its course .? Have you seen them 
all ? What else have you seen growing close to 
running water .? Do these things hold the water 
back in its course ? Observe the words that tell 
how each tried to delay the stream. What is the 
meaning of 'held me thrall'.? Show how the 
words * willful,' * laving,* and * fondling * add to 
the picture and to the feeling of the temptation 
to stay." 

" The next temptation is to linger under the 
trees that are on the hills and in the glades. 
(What expression might have been used instead 
of glades .? Would it sound as well here }) What 
trees are named ? Do all these grow where we 
live } How does the poet picture the hickory as 
tempting the stream ? Does the sun shine very 
hot on the bare plains of the South..? Does this, 
by contrast, make the shade more desirable? 
What is the meaning of, — * the poplar tall 
wrought me her shadowy self to hold ' } What 
picture do you get from this line, — * overleaning 
with flickering meaning and sign ' ? " 

" We next see the river flowing between rocky 
cliffs. What beautiful stones are hidden away in 
the clefts of the rocks } in the river bed ? What 
46 



SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

words make us hear the stream as well as see it ? 
Is there any special suggestion in the word 
friendly ? What expression of two words in this 
stanza tells that the stream was affected by 
this beauty? Explain the meaning of the expres- 
sion." 

" Did the stream yield to any of these * lures* ? 
The first two lines of the last stanza answer this 
question. The third line gives the reason. What 
unusual word in the line means glad ? Why is the 
word in the poem better? The same line tells 
of the work to be done on the plain. What was 
it ? What word is used instead of ocean ? Why 
better ? " 

" Point out the lines that are nearly alike in 
the first and the last stanza. Show that these 
lines are the key to the great thought of the 
poem." 

" Tell what parts you like best. Give the lines, 
couplets, or stanzas you have memorized." 

"Learn the poem 'by heart' and recite it to 
the class." 

" Make a list of poems that contain vivid word 
pictures of brooks and rivers." (Discuss them in 
class.) 

" Discuss any poems you know that tell of vic- 
tory over temptation." 

"Tell a story you have read or heard that 
portrays such victory." (Reproduction.) 

47 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

"Tell an original story, true or imaginative, 
that has the same theme, namely : a story of 
overcoming the temptation to neglect the work 
to which duty calls.** 



IV 

THE GROUP PLAN OF COOPERATIVE LESSONS 

Each lesson is an epitome of previous experience 

To-day is the result of all the yesterdays. At 
any point of time each person's ability to in- 
terpret and communicate thought and feeling is 
the result of many cooperative forces working 
throughout his entire past. All that each has 
learned to know through what he has himself 
seen, heard, thought, and done ; all that he has 
felt in response to life's experiences and in re- 
sponse to the portrayal of experiences in story, 
poem, picture, or other form of art ; all that he is 
to-day, — manifests itself in his own expression. 
The strength and power of this impulse from 
within will depend on the clearness and range of 
knowledge and the consequent depth and gen- 
uineness of the feeling. The force with which 
this expression will take hold of another is con- 
ditioned upon mastery of words : of vocabulary, 
phraseology, and arrangement. And the degree 
of this mastery is the result of what the ear has 
heard, what the eye has seen, and what the mouth 
has spoken during the yesterdays that have fash- 
ioned to-day. 

49 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

These familiar truths have been repeated to 
remind us that they are as true of life within the 
schoolroom as without. Each lesson in school is 
but an epitome of some life lesson. Every con- 
scious attempt to express himself in oral or writ- 
ten composition should be felt by the pupil to be 
the result of a series of cooperative lessons all 
helping him to communicate his thought through 
this composition. And this expression of himself 
measures the development of this language power 
at any given time. 

The literary selection as the basis of a group of 
cooperative lessons 

Right here we have touched the primary cause 
of weak results in teaching literature and lan- 
guage by many and many a faithful teacher, — 
namely, failure to unify the lessons and the en- 
ergies of teachers and pupils because of weak 
grasp or no grasp of a central purpose. Without 
this, each lesson is an isolated unit when it should 
be one of a group of cooperative units. Careful 
observation of the schoolroom work of those who 
are, to some extent, using literature as a basis of 
language lessons will show that most use a liter- 
ary selection as a more or less distinct unit ; and 
teach a series of language lessons as so many dis- 
tinct, unrelated units. This is to disregard the 
law of interrelations of thought and of mental 

50 



COOPERATIVE LESSONS 

energies. It makes slight use of the laws to which 
we have referred in the preceding paragraph. 
Especially does it ignore the cumulative force of 
concentrated energy. 

The literary selection should be not merely the 
basis of one language lesson, nor of a series of 
unrelated lessons, but the basis of a group of co- 
operative lessons, tied together by the theme of 
the selection. 

a. First step : selecting an interesting theme 

The first step is the selection of a theme that 
touches the interests of the pupils. This marvel- 
ous "human touch," this kinship of human inter- 
ests, this every-day proclamation of universal 
brotherhood, — does not the thought of these 
everlasting foundations lift language teaching 
above drudgery into privilege.? It is with the 
keen delight of the artist that a teacher interprets 
the kindling eye and eager tongue which show 
that the right note has been struck. 

The next pleasure is the search for pictures 
and literature that will bring to the pupils that 
portrayal of these interests which will be a "dress 
rehearsal of their own experiences,"— such por- 
trayal as will give new dignity to the experiences 
recalled, and impress higher ideals of forms of 
expression. 



51 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

h. Second step : using the literary embodiment of the 
theme 

Then follows the still greater delight of so 
using the pictures and the literature selected as 
to strike not merely the right note but the full 
chord. As has been said, the literature is, for 
this purpose, best presented to the ear, that the 
minds of the pupils may be given entirely to gaz- 
ing, not glancing, at the mental pictures brought 
into view on the brain film in response to the 
words of an artist. For each individual this means 
a series of pictures out of his own life, the mak- 
ing of which frees the motive force that sets 
a-throbbing with desire for action the various 
media through which he expresses himself to 
others. Each is happy to draw or paint or tell in 
oral or written word what he sees and what it 
makes him think about. 

This spontaneous picturing and telling gives 
the teacher the key to the whole group of lan- 
guage exercises. The generated interest made 
cumulative by expression is used in the production 
of the tangible practical results of more accu- 
rate, more adequate, and more effective use of 
the English language. 

Literary embodiments of the theme remain 
the ideal of the cooperative group, — the ideal to 
be familiarized by continued and varied contact. 
52 



COOPERATIVE LESSONS 

The interest roused remains the dominant force 
of the dictation exercises for spelling, paragraph- 
ing, and punctuation ; of the word-study for de- 
velopment of vocabulary; of the conversations 
for use of the larger vocabulary with correct pro- 
nunciation and for correct use of grammatical 
forms ; of the study of paragraph-making ; of re- 
citation of poems " learned by heart " ; of drama- 
tization ; and of all other language exercises that 
make up the lesson units of the group. The last 
of the series, " the last for which the first was 
planned," are the oral and the written composi- 
tion, the fruit of each individual's response to the 
ideals studied, and his personal effort to reach 
them. 

The pupil should realize that something of 
what he has learned in his out-of-door life, in his 
lessons in nature study, geography, history, or 
any other content study, or something that has 
come to him through his relations with other 
lives at home or at school, has furnished him 
with something to say. And he may early real- 
ize that through *' exposure " to what has been 
"finely said" by another he catches not only in- 
spiration to try to tell what he has himself seen 
and felt, but with it he catches a wider vocabu- 
lary, a finer phraseology, and more definite ideas 
of arranging his own thoughts. Through his own 
efforts to tell well, he may be led to feel his need 

53 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

of exercises for practice in the use of oral and 
written forms in order that he may gain skill in 
handling his material. 

A composition is, then, the natural climax of 
a group of co5perative lessons, which group in- 
cludes a piece of literature to bring into direct 
focus both phases of the language ideal, — (i) the 
thought and feehng to be quickened, and (2) the 
forms to be first appreciated, then used crea- 
tively. 

c. Third step : criticizing the prevailing faults 

The composition should be followed by class 
criticism of certain prevailing faults, for the 
stated purpose of "doing better next time." 
And the pupils are led to turn to the literature 
that furnishes the theme for their standards of 
comparison. The teacher impersonally presents 
the wrong selected from the compositions and 
points to the right in the literature or in im- 
promptu renderings that give the correct usage. 
Each pupil is led to criticize his own composi- 
tion in respect to the fault under consideration, 
by comparison with the true, noting the faults 
or excellencies as measured by the standard pre- 
sented. 

And here only the teacher can mark out the 
path. The ideal of the textbook in language is 
to inspire, stimulate, develop, and guide both the 

54 



COOPERATIVE LESSONS 

interests and the activities of the teacher and the 
pupils. The teacher is the live factor in all live 
teaching ; and especially and most emphatically 
is this true of all live language teaching, in which 
material is used to develop the self to be ex- 
pressed and the adequacy of its expression. The 
teacher alone knows the special conditions of 
home and school life and environment which 
must guide in adapting and supplementing all 
material to meet these conditions. 

There follow groups of lessons illustrating the 
plan outlined, the group plan of cooperative les- 
son units, suggested and unified by the right use 
of the rightly selected piece of literature. Such 
a plan is built on principles as eternal as human 
life. Among them are the laws of conservation 
of energy and interrelation of forces, — laws as 
operative in the mental as in the material world. 
But the teacher's insight, sympathy, knowledge, 
understanding, and creative ability so to use ma- 
terial as to minister to larger life and more effec- 
tive service are elements of the wise love that is 
the fulfilling of the law. 

Illustrative group of cooperative lessons 

a. Nature themes 

Suppose the theme of the composition is to 

be some pleasant out-of-door autumn experience. 

Study and discussion of Murillo's picture, " The 

55 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

Melon Eaters," or of Seefert's " The Harvesters' 
Return" will suggest some autumn pleasures. 
In such word pictures as those of Spenser and 
Whittier the pupils catch the true spirit of the 
season. These poets are great enough to see as 
children see. They show us Autumn personified, 
laden with fruit and grains, crowned with the 
harvest sheaves and "laughing out" with joy in 
his rich gifts. (In comparison with this happy 
autumn mood thus caught and given back to us, 
note the morbidness from the child's point of 
view of a poem like Bryant's "The Death of the 
Flowers.") To these pictures, add Charles Dud- 
ley Warner's whimsical account of the boys' nut- 
gathering on a New England farm. Let the 
pupils listen to lines from James Whitcomb 
Riley's gleeful autumn songs, closing with his 
suggestions of the great autumn home festival. 
Surely in the mind of every normal child some 
half-forgotten, half-appreciated good time in this 
great harvest season of the year has been re- 
vivified and clearly outlined by association with 
the vivid pictures seen through the words of 
others. Surely every pupil now feels that he has 
something of interest to tell. 

In the manner of the telling, each composition 
will evidence to a greater or less degree the in- 
fluence of the literature discussed. To this are 
added specific exercises for the use of certain 

56 



COOPERATIVE LESSONS 

correct forms of speech and writing to be used 
in expressing thoughts related to the composi- 
tion theme. For example, in this group there 
may be much oral repetition of statements re- 
garding fruits, each sentence to embody the cor- 
rect use of the word seen with an auxiliary. The 
dictation spelling lesson, while contributing to 
the thought of the theme, may also emphasize 
the use of the capital and period in sentence- 
making. 

Such a group of lessons is a definite prepara- 
tion for as many individual compositions as there 
are members in the class. Each will relate an 
individual autumn experience in berrying, nut- 
ting, haying, harvesting, or some other kind of 
fruit gathering. 

For a series of such groups the following stories 
and poems may well illuminate the themes : The 
old Greek story of " Ceres and Proserpina " ; the 
"Feast of Mondamin" from "Hiawatha"; the 
poems "October" and "Down to Sleep," by 
Helen Hunt Jackson ; " Harvest Home in Eng- 
land"; "The First Thanksgiving in America." 
As previously illustrated, each group of the series 
will have its specific formal exercises for definite 
practice in the oral use of certain correct forms 
of speech, and the use in writing of certain marks 
of punctuation ; and each such exercise will make 
a definite contribution both in thought and form 

57 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

to the writing of the composition. And this com- 
position, with the exercises in class criticism of 
what has been written, make the climax of the 
group. And here we have the self-expression 
that manifests the degree of language power 
each has attained as the result of the coopera- 
tion of all previous impressions and efforts. On 
the language side, it is the resultant of vital con- 
tact with the ideals and practice in striving to 
reach them. 

b. Historical themes 

Again, the first preparation for many compo- 
sitions is made in the history lessons. For in- 
stance, the pupil has read and discussed some of 
the famous explorations, legendary and histori- 
cal, — among them those of Columbus. He learns 
Joaquin Miller's "Columbus," and catches the 
indomitable spirit of the great man who did ever 
cry, " Sail on, sail on, sail on and on ! " while 
his men grew mutinous, " grew ghastly wan and 
weak," while fierce winds blew and nights were 
dark and the "mad sea showed its teeth." Copy- 
ing the poem not only helps to fix it in memory, 
but also helps to interpret and to establish in 
habit the correct use of exclamation marks, and 
of quotation marks. Writing from dictation a 
quoted paragraph of vivid and forcible descrip- 
tion of Sir Francis Drake, "the first man to 

58 



COOPERATIVE LESSONS 

carry the English flag into the Pacific," may be 
used to show how to describe a person. It will 
also enlarge the vocabulary of descriptive adjec- 
tives needed to picture a man of the pioneer type. 
This group may well include a lesson requiring 
the correct use of forms of eight or ten verbs 
used in the poem "Columbus." These lessons 
cannot fail to help the pupil to give oral and 
written accounts of other explorers, explorations, 
and discoveries ; they will help him to write para- 
graphs giving his mental pictures of legendary 
and historical persons. 

c. Geographical themes 

Let us consider the value of geography lessons 
in laying the foundation of a series of language 
lessons. Let us assume that the boys and girls 
have studied several rivers : have traced their 
courses ; have noted the explorations and settle- 
ments following these river paths ; have noted 
the different ways in which streams are useful 
to man. Perhaps they have associated certain 
rivers with the thoughts or the homes of poets 
and prose-writers. Note the language values of 
the following lessons. 

Find as many stories and poems as you can 
about springs, brooks, rivulets, and rivers. Each 
pupil may select a poem to read aloud, or a story 
to tell to the class. Select pictures to illustrate 

59 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

the stories and poems. (Perhaps the teacher 
reads to the class from Henry van Dyke's Little 
Rivers) 

Give an account of the early explorations of 
the Hudson ; of the Mississippi ; of the Columbia; 
of a river in your own part of the country. 

Tell a story connected with a brook or river ; 
— perhaps a legend of the Hudson ; or of the 
Mississippi ; or a story of one of the early settle- 
ments on the St. Lawrence. 

Tell about the home of Hawthorne or Emer- 
son on the Concord River ; or of John Burroughs 
or Washington Irving on the Hudson ; or of 
Longfellow, Lowell, or Holmes on the river 
Charles. 

Learn by heart Sidney Lanier's " Song of the 
Chattahoochee." ** Learning by heart " implies 
(i) vivid seeing of the poet's pictures through 
(2) sympathetic entering into the feeling of the 
poet ; and (3) fixing the pictures in memory in 
the exact words of the writer. To write this 
poem correctly from memory requires a certain 
mastery in the use of quotation marks and of the 
comma. Study of the word pictures increases 
appreciation of the figurative use of words that 
marks the poetic touch ; it makes for keener dis- 
crimination of word values ; it quickens the re- 
sponse to the music of sound and rhythm. 

An oral exercise of this group for correct use 
60 



COOPERATIVE LESSONS 

of word forms would naturally deal with differ- 
ent forms of such verbs as runy JioWy rise and 
raise. 

Composition subjects for individual expression 
(not reproductive) may be suggested as follows : — 

Give an account of a fishing trip ; a canoe trip ; 
a picnic by a river ; or tell about a camping ex- 
perience. 

Imagine that you have made a small sailboat ; 
that you name it and set it afloat on the stream 
nearest your home ; that while it is on its way to 
the sea a storm rises. Write some of the adven- 
tures of your imaginary boat. 

Write a letter to a friend to describe an imag- 
inary trip on a river. Tell what you see along 
the river's banks ; and in the last paragraph tell 
of its greatest values to the people living near it. 

d. Mythological themes 

The King Arthur stories furnish themes for 
groups of lessons of great interest and value to 
boys and girls of all grades ; but they make spe- 
cial appeal to the often latent chivalry of boys in 
the self-conscious, undemonstrative period of their 
lives. These stories afford the best possible means 
of developing self-control, courage, protection of 
the weak and wronged, and care for the suffer- 
ing, while as the basis of language lessons they 
develop language power. 
6i 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

The stories of the Knights of the Round 
Table read both in class and at home will gene- 
rate most interesting class reproductions and 
discussions. The children will listen with keenest 
delight to Tennyson's pictures of knighthood as 
set to musical sound in his " Idylls of the King." 
Excellent dictation lessons may be selected from 
this poem and from Sir Thomas Malory, or from 
Lanier's " The Boy's King Arthur." The class 
may learn by heart and write from memory the 
oath of knighthood : " I will be faithful to God 
and loyal to the King. I will reverence all women. 
I will ever protect the pure and helpless. I will 
never engage in unholy wars. I will never seek 
to exalt myself to the injury of others. I will 
speak the truth and deal justly with all men." 
Study of the use of "I will" in this oath of 
knighthood is an excellent preparation for a series 
of studies in the use of "shall" and "will." 

An exercise for discriminating use of such 
descriptive words as will be needed in writing 
the compositions of this group is illustrated be- 
low: — 

Copy the words in the following lists, and 
write after each a word of opposite meaning. 

In class, give sentences using the words in the 
given lists to describe some character in story, 
poem, or real life. Discuss and compare the words 
of opposite meaning. 

62 



COOPERATIVE LESSONS 



fearless 


daring 


pure 


noble 


unselfish 


heroic 


courageous 


brave 


chivalrous 


manly 


stout-hearted 


valiant 


strong 


courteous 


gentle 


high-spirited 


gallant 


truthful 


just 


adventurous 


kind 


true 


honorable 





Lowell's "Vision of Sir Launfal" should at 
this time deepen the children's vision of the 
beauty and real significance of knighthood. (This 
is to recommend not an intensive study of the 
poem at this time but a sympathetic appreciation 
of its pictures and their meaning.) 

Suggested themes for composition writing : — 

Write a story of any of King Arthur's knights. 
(Be sure that your opening sentences tell the 
time, the place, and the most important person 
or persons of the story.) 

Write a paragraph about "The Search for the 
Holy Grail." 

Write a story of a boy or a girl who wanted to 
do great things and neglected to do the duties 
that lay nearest. (In your story, show that the 
boy or girl learns the same lesson that Sir 
Launfal learned.) 

Write a true story of a deed of some man or 
woman, which deed shows the true spirit of 
knighthood. 

Write an account, true or imagined, of the 
knightly deed of a boy. Perhaps he rescued an 

63 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

abused animal ; perhaps he was kind to an aged 
man or woman who needed his help ; perhaps he 
befriended a child weaker than himself. 

Similarly, the story of Ulysses, of Siegfried, 
and of Beowulf may be used to unify groups of 
cooperative lesson units. And every sane boy re- 
vels in Mabie's "Norse Stories." The charm is 
heightened by associating the stories with such 
word-pictures as are found in Longfellow's " Saga 
of King Olaf " and Lowell's "Reply to the Chal- 
lenge of Thor." (These should be read aloud to 
the class.) In this connection, Henry van Dyke's 
story of " The Oak of Geismar " from " The First 
Christmas Tree " is also greatly appreciated. 
Collections of pictures showing mythological con- 
ceptions of artists add to the interest. Intelligent 
discussion of pictures has great culture value on 
the side of language as well as of art apprecia- 
tion. 

Three important suggestions 

It is an established fact that pupils read more 
intelligently and sympathetically and express 
themselves not only more correctly but also more 
adequately as their teachers grow in the under- 
standing of the threefold truth : (i) that reading 
and language lessons, though often separately 
indicated on the school program, are truly parts 
of one whole ; (2) that reading in school means 
the reading of literature ; (3) that study of liter- 
64 



COOPERATIVE LESSONS 

ature furnishes the inspiration and models for the 
language study. 

In the best schools, the application of these 
truths in the primary grades has become a mat- 
ter of practice. On entering school, children clasp 
hands with Eugene Field, Robert Louis Steven- 
son, and other poets of childhood. They live with 
Hiawatha. The classic fables, fairy stories, and 
folklore, with the poems that appeal to child- 
life, not only "tie together" the exercises in 
telling, in reading, and in drawing with the songs, 
games, and handwork, but they also nourish each 
child's growing life and fill his mind with vivid 
pictures of something worth seeing and sharing. 
It must be remembered that the child's language 
power grows with himself and he with it. To 
stand out before a class, look into the eyes of the 
listeners, and with freedom from self-conscious- 
ness to reproduce a story or recite a poem learned 
by heart means development of reading ability 
and of language power. But the final telling a 
story of his own experience or imagination (sug- 
gested and molded by the familiar stories and 
poems) is the individual oral composition that is 
self-expression. 

Walt Whitman has given us some lines in 
which he has written large the psychology of 
the impression half of the impression-expression 
circuit : — 

65 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

" There was a boy went forth every day 
And the first object he saw that object he became ; 

Or that object became a part of him 

For that day or for a certain part of the day ; 

Or for years or stretching cycles of years 
The early lilacs became a part of him." 

A part of the psychology of the expression 
half of the circuit is found in the words, " Out 
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak- 
eth." To this must be added the truth that the 
manner of speaking is fashioned by conscious 
and unconscious imitation of language ideals. 

We may be pardoned for wresting to our use 
Emerson's injunction "Hitch your wagon to a 
star." Mastery of the language art is the star to 
which are hitched the wagons of all the language 
lessons. " Pulling singly " will mark time ; " pull- 
ing together " will mark progress. 



TRAINING TO HABITUAL USE OF CORRECT 
FORMS 

The need of skill in using the mediuTn of 
communication 

In any discussion of any phase of language 
teaching, we shall remember that the high pur- 
pose of this teaching is to develop each pupil's 
power to communicate his thought and feeling. 
We shall not forget that, in every art, the first 
essential is something within the self to be ex- 
pressed ; that, in every art, "there 's all the differ- 
ence in the world between having something to 
say and having to say something." But " to have ■ 
something to say" is the first, not the only, es- 
sential. To say it so truly, so clearly, so forcibly 
that it shall take hold of another mind is the sec- 
ond requisite ; and ability to do this depends upon 
the degree of mastery of technique, — of skill in 
using the medium of communication. 

This twofold law applies with special emphasis 
to the one great universal art of self-expression 
in words. Here is the medium that all, — rich, 
poor, high, low, white, black, yellow, or brown,— 

67 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

all must use' in finding fellowship. In all com- 
munity-life, — in every land and in every age, — 
asking for bread or for friendship, working or 
playing, sharing sorrows or joys, — every human 
being enters into life relations by means of words. 
Words are the universal symbols of cooperation, 
of sympathy, of brotherhood. Inevitably, when 
one's thought reaches out to find lodgment in the 
mind of another, it takes shape in a group of 
words. Whether it shall "fall by the wayside" 
or " spring up in good ground " and bear fruit 
depends in large measure on the adequacy of its 
word expression. This is the body of the thought 
through which its soul is manifested or obscured. 
And, in the words of Colonel Parker, "while 
form without thought is barren, thought without 
form is mushy." Neither " mushy" nor uncouth 
language can carry " the live coal that kindles." 
While, therefore, it remains eternally true that 
the first step in the development of language 
power is to rouse clear thought with its accom- 
panying feeling, — it also remains eternally true 
that to develop this power is to give increased 
mastery of vocabulary, of phraseology, of ac- 
cepted and universally understood grammatical 
forms. In previous chapters we have discussed 
the first great essential ; in this chapter we shall 
discuss the form-mastery phase of language 
growth 

6S 



HABITUAL USE OF CORRECT FORMS 

Mastery of form implies habitual use of 
speech forms 

Mastery of form implies the habitual use of 
"the true, the beautiful, and the good" ; habit 
is the result of repeated use ; and the speech 
forms used by each individual are those his ear 
has furnished him. Let us say this backward as 
well as forward ; it embodies our theme. Through 
the ear, we get our words and phrases, we " catch " 
our ways of saying things; by use in unconscious 
and conscious imitation we make these our own; 
by repeated use we fix them in habit. 

The fact that each person adds to his language 
stock and molds its form by silent reading does 
not gainsay the statement that his ear furnishes 
his speech. Is it not true that one incorporates 
into his own language the word expressions he 
reads only when he mentally hears the words he 
sees ? A bright educational lecturer has said that 
" from ear to mouth is the short circuit." In si- 
lent reading the " circuit " is from eye and ear to 
mouth, the connection between the first two 
being a lightning flash. 

We quote further : " From ear through arm to 
mouth is the long, indirect circuit." We need 
this reminder of Nature's plans. To attempt to 
establish habitual use of correct speech forms by 
correction of errors on paper is not only the 

69 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

" long circuit " waste of energy and time ; it is 
as futile as the child's attempt to check the in- 
coming tide with his toy spade. To the pupil it 
becomes a tiresome, mechanical task, without 
initiative on his part, to continue to " correct " 
on paper the mistakes he "knew better" than 
to make, but which " wrote themselves " out of 
his daily speech. Errors "at home" in one's 
oral language invariably make themselves "at 
home " in his written language. Whenever the 
mind is occupied with the thought to be ex- 
pressed, the pen is sure to record the habits of 
the tongue. Experience has always taught this. 

By the study of physiological psychology, we 
discover that the human body bears testimony 
to these facts of experience. Nature has written 
large and written deep in spinal cord and brain 
the certain reaction of the out-going motor im- 
pulse to complete the impression of the incoming 
sound waves, as well as to complete the ideas 
these sounds bring in to the mind. With equal 
plainness, Nature records the tendency to repeat 
a motor activity until its path is cut so deep that 
the spinal cord finally attends to the act and 
leaves the brain to the service of higher mental 
activities. Not until the word forms accepted 
and adopted by speakers and writers of the best 
English are taken care of by the spinal cord, are 
they habitually used. It is his motor habits that 



HABITUAL USE OF CORRECT FORMS 

"set" the language of each person in its own 
individual mold. 

So to him who would master the technique of 
word expression both science and experience 
plainly say: Put yourself where you will hear 
the right ; say it ; say it again and again and 
again. Listen to it until it " sounds right " and 
natural ; until the needle of the ear compass swings 
ever true to the correct sound and is sensitive to 
the incorrect. Then say it until the motor reac- 
tion is so automatic that the right form says 
itself while the mind is engaged with its thought 
content. 

Good English is born of familiarity 

It is evident that the use of good English is 
born of familiarity. From the first day of school 
to the last, every pupil should be daily "exposed" 
to the literature that belongs to him at any given 
stage of his growth, because the literature right- 
fully his exerts the highest and strongest influence 
in both the thought and the form-phases of his 
language development. This daily contact would 
insure the pupil's habitual use of correct and 
adequate forms of expression if, in addition, he 
heard only good language at home, at school, 
and at play. To come daily into one's inheritance 
of the best that has been thought and done and 
said, and to live in daily close association with 

71 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

those who have something to say and "say it 
finely," and with no other, would be to gain con- 
stantly increasing power over the word, the sen- 
tence, and the paragraph as media of expression. 
Under these conditions, language teaching would 
be relieved of what some teachers have called its 
drudgery side. 

Special obstacles necessitate definite habit-forming 
exercises 

But a few unpleasant facts get in the way of 
this happy issue out of our language difficulties. 
At seven years of age, each child has passed 
through his nascent language-making years. He 
has passed through the period of keenest re- 
sponse to sound, — the period when impulse to 
motor imitation holds well-nigh absolute sway. 
And during these language-making years, vast 
numbers of children in America never hear any 
good English ; still greater numbers never hear 
the best. We face conditions peculiar to our own 
country ; we must meet them as they are. 

In thousands of homes a foreign language is 
spoken; in hundreds of thousands, a sort of 
home-made combination of English with one or 
two other tongues ; in thousands upon thousands 
of homes most flagrant violations of all laws of 
form are heard. And, in addition to the positively 
wrong to which they have been subjected, the 

72 



HABITUAL USE OF CORRECT FORMS 

great majority of American children have heard 
only a meager, commonplace, if not coarse, vo- 
cabulary. In fact, it is the rare home and the rare 
schoolroom in which one habitually hears true, 
virile English. Even from parents and teachers 
whose college diplomas certify that they are 
highly educated, one often hears the discordant 
note, the result of early habits combined with 
weak or spasmodic or no effort to overcome 
them. From the same cause it is not unusual to 
hear even from the university chair and the 
public platform the insidious, slovenly inaccu- 
racies of speech that have crept in and have 
become domesticated. 

Consideration of these influences and the 
inevitableness of their results may help us to 
understand why our children come to the school 
with so much language equipment to get, and so 
much to get rid of. It shows us why training to 
skill in the use of correct forms is a matter of 
overcoming bad habits by establishing the good 
in their place ; and why, in the schoolroom, con- 
tact with the best must be supplemented by 
definite habit-forming exercises. 

The habit of correct usage should be an 
increasingly intelligent usage 

To do this part of the work well requires thor- 
ough, accurate, systematized knowledge of the 

73 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

use of forms ; it also requires careful planning to 
give the pupils the systematic practice needed. 
Nothing but persistent oral repetition of the 
correct form will overcome the habit of using 
incorrect, ungrammatical, and inelegant expres- 
sions in daily speech. These are matters of ear 
training and of motor habits, as well as of knowl- 
edge. As long as errors persist in a person's 
speech, they will persist in what he writes when 
full of his subject. The cure for such faults, then, 
whether of speech or writing, is in oral repeti- 
tion. Exercises for this purpose should be con- 
versational; the more of a game element in 
them, the better ; they may, at times, be some- 
what gymnastic in their nature. They should be 
short, lively, and practiced daily. 

But this habit of correct usage should be an 
increasingly intelligent usage. The following 
general plan for the daily practice exercises is 
recommended as sound in principle and service- 
able in practice: (i) provide for exercises that 
require correct use of a form commonly misused; 
(2) call attention to the form used and the man- 
ner of using ; (3) secure repetition of the correct 
form ; (4) ask pupils to tell what form has been 
used and how it was used ; (5) lead to a simple 
statement of a direction for its use ; (6) require 
further repetition to fix habit. This plan may be 
followed in the study of written forms in the 

74 



HABITUAL USE OF CORRECT FORMS 

dictation of exercises as well as with the oral ex- 
ercises. 

The futility of reliance on rules of grammar 

Much past teaching has been based on the 
theory that rules of grammar would do the work. 
Pupils have glibly recited the rules of syntax 
from I to L, and fifty times a day have broken 
the fifty rules. And the teacher — has wondered 
why ! Rules of grammar do not fashion speech ; 
they record its crystallization. They never es- 
tablish habits of correct usage ; they may serve 
to make that usage more intelligent and self- 
directive. They throw light on the path of effort, 
but it is the effort, the determined effort and the 
repeated effort that conquers. Knowledge of the 
rule would be sufficient " if to do were as easy 
as to know what 'twere good to do." When the 
child said, "Can I have a piece of pie.?" "May 
I ! " corrected the mother. Then the child said, 
** May I have a piece of pie } " and the mother 
answered, "Yes, you can." The knowing mind 
said " may " ; the spinal cord said " can " ; there- 
fore the tongue said " can." 

The restoration of an oldfashioned treatment of 
language teaching 

Doctors do not disagree with this diagnosis of 
conditions. Is there, then, a prescription for the 

75 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

remedy ? If so, are the results guaranteed ? As 
form study more readily than content study 
lends itself to prescriptions, a plan is outlined 
which has the following recommendations : (i) 
It is built upon the facts and principles set forth 
in this paper ; (2) its value has been proved in the 
practical experience of the most successful teach- 
ers of language in all countries ; (3) it has been 
in use for many years. It bears no original stamp, 
— is no patent process. It is an old-fashioned 
feature of language teaching that, like the good 
old orthodox multiplication table, has been lost 
out of some schools. There will be more effective 
economy of time and energy when these and 
some other lost articles of form study are found 
and restored to their proper places as involving 
necessary practice for automatic mastery of means 
and tools. 

Eight practical suggestions 

The following practical suggestions are writ- 
ten in the second person for the sake of direct- 
ness ; they are not written in dogmatic mood. 

First. Make a list of the errors of speech 
common among your pupils and in the school 
neighborhood. Keep this list in mind through- 
out the year. Add to it as an epidemic error 
appears. 

It is significant that in a collection of several 

76 



HABITUAL USE OF CORRECT FORMS 

hundred such lists made by teachers of all sorts 
and conditions of children in various localities 
and under widely varying circumstances, the uni- 
versality of certain groups of errors is strikingly 
shown. With the elimination of a few localisms, 
any one of the lists would be a good working 
basis for all, to be supplemented in each school 
by the few localisms of its neighborhood. 

All note among common errors in the use of 
tense, person, and number forms of verbs, — the 
forms of see, go, comey become^ do, write, run, lie, 
lay, sity sety sing, ring, bring, buy, begin, know, 
grow, throw, blow, fall, Jly, take, speak, breaks 
teach, think, catch, fight, rise, raise^ freeze, eat^ 
bite, drink, drive, ride, and be. 

All note common use of the incorrect for the 
correct personal pronoun forms : — 

(i) in the predicate in such expressions as " It 
is r ' ; 

(2) after certain prepositions in such expres- 
sions as " Between you and me (him, her) " ; 

(3) after " than " in such sentences as " He is 
older than I." 

And nearly all lists record the frequent incor- 
rect use of this, that, these, those, them; each, 
every, few, fewer, little, less ; many, much, most, 
almost ; some, somewhat, real, rather, very ; bet- 
ter, best, worse, worst ; good, well, bad, badly ; 
without, unless ; between, among ; in, into ; at, to; 

77 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

nOy none ; either ^ or; neitherytior ; like^ as ; who, 
whom ; may^ can ; will and shall. 

Second. Plan a systematic series of daily oral 
exercises, each to have the particular purpose 
of overcoming a particular fault noted on your 
list. Plan it thoughtfully and follow it persist- 
ently. 

Third. Inspire the pupils with a desire to speak 
correctly, and lead them to feel that these exer- 
cises will help them to do so, just as daily practice 
helps them to play good baseball or football. 

When quite young, the writer learned this 
lesson experimentally. Her teacher was a man, 
now known, respected, and loved throughout the 
educational world. In his grammar class, she 
easily carried the ioo% banner in parsing, ana- 
lysis, and recitation of rules. As fast as "the 
waters come down at Lodore" she could pour 
out the words of the rule for the use of the pred- 
icate-nominative, and the nominative forms of the 
personal pronouns. But alas ! the same tongue 
was ready to say in the same breath, " It was me 
that said that rule." " It was me (him, her) " 
had already made the " short circuit " and beaten 
the path. 

The wise teacher said to her, " Will you for 

one week say ' It is I,' many, many times every 

day } Will you keep repeating it as many times 

as you can say it in a minute and make as many 

78 



HABITUAL USE OF CORRECT FORMS 

of these minute opportunities as you can every 
day for a week ? " 

" I will," she said, " but I don't think I shall 
ever say it to or before anybody. * It is I ' sounds 
to me like * putting on airs.' " 

" Never mind that now ; just do as I ask," was 
the reply. 

The consequences were : ( i ) ** It is I " no longer 
sounded affected ; (2) " It is me " became intol- 
erable to the ear, and impossible to the tongue. 
She was cured. And since that time she has 
used this formula and cured herself of many a 
tendency to use a doubtful or an incorrect form. 

To convince pupils that we ourselves use the 
remedy we prescribe often inspires them to 
greater zeal, faith, and effort. 

Fourth. Make the exercise short (three to five 
minutes) and lively. 

Fifth. Make it the main purpose of this daily 
exercise to have every pupil individually use as 
many times as possible the correct form chosen 
for the day's practice. 

Sixth. Require sensible sentences, with some 
** point " to them. Introducing the game element 
helps give the *'point." 

Suppose, for example, the teacher or a pupil 
has recited to a primary class from Stevenson's 
" Foreign Lands," 



79 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

" Up into the cherry tree 
Who should climb but little me ? 
I held the trunk with both my hands 
And looked abroad on foreign lands. 

" I saw the next door garden lie 
Adorned with flowers, before my eye, 
And many pleasant places more 
That I had never seen before. 

" I saw the cHmbing river pass 
And be the ship's blue looking glass, 
The dusty roads go up and down 
With people tramping in to town. 

*' If I could find a higher tree 
Farther and farther I should see, — " 



(Teacher to children) ; 

" * Play ' you found that higher tree out in the 
school yard or on a high hill ; you climbed to its 
top and looked above, below, and away, — as far 
as you could see. Now you have come back to 
tell us what you saw. Just as fast as you can 
talk, one after the other may tell what he saw. 
Each may begin with *I saw.' " 

Then, " Each may tell of * pleasant places* that 

he had never seen before." ("I saw that I 

had never seen before.") 

Again, "Each in this row may tell what the 
pupil across the aisle (or at right or left) saw or 

has seen." (** Frank saw [has seen] -.") 

80 



HABITUAL USE OF CORRECT FORMS 

" Each may tell what he has seen from the 

top of a hill." (" From the top of I have 

seen .") 

"In each alternate row pupils may try to re- 
member what those in the opposite row have 
seen, and tell the school." ("They have seen a 
river, fields, hills, houses, children, etc.") 

All of the so-called sense-training games in 
the primary school should be language-training 
games ; and similar exercises adapted to older 
children should be continued throughout the 
grades. The possible devices are innumerable. 

Seventh. After their repeated use, in sensible 
sentences, call attention to the forms used and 
the manner of using. Simple rules may be made 
by the pupils. 

For example, after repeated use of two verb- 
forms like saWy seen, — went, gone, — or came^ 
come, — the pupils may be led to note the differ- 
ences in the use of these forms. The teacher may 
ask, which is used with has or have? Which, 
without ? The children may frame a very simple 
direction : as, " Of the two words saw and seen, 
use seen, and not saw, with has or have!* Older 
pupils that have acquired a grammar vocabulary 
will perhaps make this rule : " Use seen with has, 
have, or had to form a verb-phrase. Use saw 
without a helping verb to denote past time." 

But it must be kept in mind, as has been said, 
8i 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

that while this formulated statement may help 
to more definite purpose, to more self-directive 
effort, it is the repeated hearing and using that 
establishes the habit. 

Eighth. Vary the exercises as much as possible 
within the limit of the general plan. Have the 
pupils frequently read aloud sentences containing 
the desired correct forms. These sentences may 
be read sometimes from books, sometimes from 
the board. Chronic cases may be asked to read 
rapidly the same five or six sentences for several 
days ; perhaps more than once a day. Under 
right school conditions, it takes but a part of 
a minute. Sometimes one pupil may read the 
selected sentences, and another listen and repeat 
from memory. The resourceful teacher will have 
many devices for "keeping up steam" to keep 
the machinery moving. Pupils often suggest ex- 
cellent exercises for variety. 

The problem of technical grammar 

To what extent shall technical grammar be 
called to our aid in teaching language ? 

In the primary grades the child is entirely en- 
gaged with the art, the using. There should be 
no thought of forcing upon him even the terms 
of the science. As his power increases and his 
study of language naturally and gradually deep- 
ens, he begins to appreciate a sentence as a 
82 



HABITUAL USE OF CORRECT FORMS 

thought unit ; he advances to the study of the 
larger elements of this thought unit ; and by the 
time he reaches the fifth or sixth grade he is 
ready to use intelligently the terms "subject" 
and '* predicate." Similarly, his study of words is 
gradually giving him greater understanding of 
their various uses, and he begins to group them 
according to their uses in the sentence. When 
he understands that for which a term stands, he 
should use the term as naturally as he names the 
parts of a flower when he is familiar with those 
parts as special organs of the flower. There seems 
to be no halfway place for the home-made, make- 
shift word to be used as a substitute for the ac- 
cepted term. For example, when the pupil has 
grouped the words used " to name," why belittle 
him by giving him a made-up word, while we re- 
serve the word ** noun " for the next grade ? By 
the end of the fifth or the sixth grade, he should 
have grown to use intelligently the names of the 
parts of speech, as he uses any other words that 
have grown into his vocabulary in the natural 
way, — by use as needed to express ideas. 

But these terms are not taught as elements of 
the science, the logic, of grammar. They have, 
rather, as his thinking and knowledge grew,, been 
given to supply a needed, exact vocabulary. By 
means of its use he can much more clearly, sim- 
ply, and directly state the principal rules and 

83 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

directions governing the use of language forms ; 
and here, as everywhere else, clearer expression 
helps to clear the thought. Though the founda- 
tion is thus laid for the study of grammar, it is 
not at this time for the sake of grammar ; it is 
for the sake of its contribution to language power. 
When, by this gradual growth, — in thought, 
in vocabulary, and in appreciation of some of the 
underlying principles, — the time arrives for sys- 
tematic study of the structure of the language 
the study of English naturally divides into two 
lines : grammar, which is followed by the study 
of logic and other related subjects ; and literature 
and composition, which are to be a lifelong study 
and delight. But the analysis of thought required 
by an understanding of grammar as an organized 
body of principles is difficult for the immature 
and untrained mind. This branch of study should 
under no circumstances be attempted before the 
seventh grade ; and, in the grades, only the es- 
sential elements of the science can be studied 
with profit. 



VI 

THE USE OF TEXTBOOKS 

The functions of teacher and text 

A SYSTEMATIC, progressive course in English, 
from the kindergarten to and through the high 
school course, evidently demands the careful se- 
lection, collection, preparation, and arrangement 
of material, and the careful planning of exercises, 
that involve years of study and of time. It im- 
plies a series of textbooks embodying the results 
of these years of experience. But with the best 
available series of books, much which only he 
can do remains to be done by each individual 
teacher. The books should suggest, inspire, give 
practical help, supply much material, and provide 
a consistently progressive plan of work ; but there 
always remains as the essential, the teacher's in- 
dividual initiative and personal ability. 

Oral teaching in the first three grades 

Experience in all grades, both with and with- 
out textbooks, has led to certain definite opinions 
regarding the use of textbooks by the pupils. It 
seems clear that during the first three years of 
school life the teacher is the best medium for 

85 



LANGUAGE TEACHING 

presenting what is to be taught. Here, then, the 
teaching should be largely oral, and a formal 
textbook in the hands of the pupil may do more 
harm than good. The reading books should fur- 
nish much good material, and this may be sup- 
plemented by the use of pictures, blackboard, and 
chart. 

The need of a text in intermediate and higher 
grades 

But in the intermediate and higher grades, 
assuming that the teachers have the requisite 
knowledge and experience, they have not the 
time to get and prepare the larger amount of 
material required; nor should it be necessary for 
them to write so many lessons on the blackboard. 
Moreover, much of the best material is not at 
hand. Again, the pupil who has entered the fourth 
grade has reached the age when he should think 
from the printed page; when he should be held 
responsible for different lessons, to be thought 
out by and of himself. It is especially important 
in this study that he absorb much by reading 
and re-reading to himself. It is the almost uni- 
versal experience that when language work is 
attempted beyond the third or the fourth grade 
without books in the hands of the children, it 
tends to degenerate into a series of unrelated 
and more or less mechanical exercises. 



OUTLINE 

I. THE PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE TEACHING 

1. Language as communicated thought . . . . i 

2. Language as self-expression i 

3. Two requisite conditions 2 

4. The place of ideal wants 3 

5. Two fundamental principles of art . . . . , 4 

II. THE USE OF LITERATURE AS THE BASIS 

OF LANGUAGE TEACHING 

1. Two standards for literary materials used . . 5 

2. Its use to interpret the child's experience . . 5 

3. The influence on vocabulary and phraseology . 7 

4. The essential characteristics of stories and 

poems used 8 

5. The need of a large conception of language 

teaching 9 

6. The selection and use of ideals found in litera- 

ture II 

7. Some grievous sins committed against children 14 

8. The oral uses of literature 19 

9. Respect for individuality 22 

10. The importance of interest 22 

11. Recognition of unity in all language lessons . 22 

III. SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS IN THE 
USE OF LITERATURE FOR LANGUAGE 

TRAINING 

1. Reading the poem or story 25 

2. Presenting it as a whole 26 

3. Asking preliminary questions 26 

4. Explaining comparisons and allusions ... 27 

5. Humanizing descriptive poems 28 

6. Providing abundant means for self-expression . 29 

7. Using a piece of literature for self-criticism . . 33 

8. Three illustrative uses of literature ..... 34 

a. Stevenson's " The Land of Counterpane " . 34 

b. Longfellow's " The Children's Hour " . .37 

c. Lanier's " Song of the Chattahoochee " . .42 

87 



OUTLINE 

IV. THE GROUP PLAN OF COOPERATIVE 
LESSONS 

1. Each lesson is an epitome of previous experi- 

ence 49 

2. The literary selection as the basis of a group of 

cooperative lessons 50 

a. First step: selecting an interesting theme 51 

b. Second step : using the literary embodiment 

of the theme 52 

c. Third step : criticizing the prevailing faults 54 

3. Illustrative groups of cooperative lessons . . SS 

a. Nature themes 55 

b. Historical themes 58 

c. Geographical themes 59 

d. Mythological themes . 61 

4. Three important suggestions ....... 64 

TRAINING TO HABITUAL USE OF CORRECT 
FORMS 

1. The need of skill in using the medium of com- 

munication 67 

2. Mastery of form implies habitual use of speech 

forms 69 

3. Good English is born of familiarity . . . .71 

4. Special obstacles necessitate definite habit-form- 

ing exercises 72 

5. The habit of correct usage should be an increas- 

ingly intelligent usage 73 

6. The futility of reliance on rules of grammar . 75 

7. The restoration of an old-fashioned treatment 

of language teaching 75 

8. Eight practical suggestions 76 

9. The problem of technical grammar .... 82 

VI. THE USE OF TEXTBOOKS 

1. The functions of teacher and text 85 

2. Oral teaching in the first three grades ... 85 

3. The need of a text in intermediate and higher 

grades 86 



CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
U . S . A 



v a 



ii^iQ 



